Your Crazy Uncle

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I Have Solved My Internet Connection Problems .........

I Finally got a connection that (so far) works.

Satellite. Maybe not the quickest or best - But Boy, Damn, Skippy, it works. I've had terrible troubles even getting online for more than 5 minutes in the last month. This is fabulous. The old dialup shit just wouldn't work anymore. I have no idea why, but I couldn't take it anymore and now we have more than 3 TV channels too!

The connectivity problems were partly to blame for why I haven't been doing anything here. I couldn't.

Monday, July 23, 2007

OK, I've Been Busy and Neglecting Y'all...... So I'm Gonna Clue You in on One of the Big Secrets of Life here.

I received a complaint last night. One of the few readers I have here chastised me for being lazy and ignoring this place for the last 2 weeks. So, here I am and I don't have shit to tell ya. Except I spent a shitload of money ordering parts and such for the BigBluePlasticMotorcycle today.It's getting close to tire time again so I ordered a set of new Dunlop D205's today from Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse. The Connie has a weird tire and wheel configuration. 18 inch front and 16 inch rear. So that really limits the selections of tires available to pick from. You can see it in the picture here. Sorta.

The Dunlops give you good traction and grip, but not a whole lot of mileage. Hey, life's full of trade offs and I'll pick traction every time in a choice like that.Now this means I have to spend a bit more money every year too, but that's ok. I didn't plan on buying tires so soon, but I've been riding the shit out of this thing lately and piling the miles up so that's just the price of enjoying life.

Connie gets about 40-45 miles per gallon when I drive in a reasonable manner, which I do most of the time. Yep, I've saved a shitpot full of money riding her so much. Damn good thing I saved all that money so I have enough to buy tires with.

BIG MOTORCYCLE SECRET AS PROMISED - Don't buy a motorcycle thinking you're going to save a bunch of money on gas. It just doesn't work that way. Yes, you will save money over what it costs to drive most full size cars or trucks. But if you like to ride, you'll rack up twice the mileage on the bike and negate any savings you may have gotten with the good fuel mileage savings. It's a great trade off for the most part and I, fer sure, ain't complaining.

HERE'S THE SECRET, BOYS AND GIRLS!!!! Saving money is the RATIONALIZATION you use when telling your Wife, Husband, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Significant Other, Loving Gerbil, Etc, that you want to buy a motorcycle! That's your selling point to close the deal. It really should be easy now with $3.00 a gallon gasoline. Hell, if you've been wanting a bike and that's what it takes to convince yourself? Go for it!

You're welcome. Feel free to express your thanks in cash donations.

Seriously, like any hobby worth a shit, it costs money to be a motorcycle rider. Just the way it is. I'm NOT saying you have to be a jerk and buy a $30,000 bike and get every expensive piece of gear and accessory you can find. But things like good helmets and gear aren't cheap and you need a certain amount of that shit to get by. Like the tires I bought awhile earlier. Just part of the cost of having fun. So plan accordingly.

Call Geico for your insurance - But don't get in an accident. I saved a bloody fortune on my insurance by switching to Geico. I also know that if I have a claim that little Bastard Lizard will not be there to back me up like my local insurance agent would be. Another trade off. I also do not carry full coverage as my bikes are paid for and not that damn expensive. I'd probably feel different about this if I were riding one of these -

But I ain't. So I will continue as I have, be careful and hope for the best. Which I suppose is all we can do in this world anyway.Besides tires, I bought a bunch of other shit for the Connie today. As I've decided to keep the old girl for another year or so, I thought it prudent to put some needed maintenance money into her along with a couple of personal comfort items. This is gonna help me and her both.I need to find a good mechanic to help me replace the steering head bearings and do a couple of other things I'm not able to do before September. I'm planning on a good long trip and will want everything up to speed before then.Ok, that's it for today. Discuss.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

OK, I Think It's Safe to "Question Their Patriotism" Now ......... SondraK had this remarkable link last night to Zombie Time and his eye opening event coverage of the Anti-American July 4th in San Francisco.

Gotta love this.

I love it when the "Peace" crowd advocates murder.

Not sure what the artwork here represents, but the message is pretty clear.

There's a lot more. Zombie Time has been attending and photographing these events for several years now. If you're interested in the true nature of the Left in the country. Nothing shows it better than when they display it themselves.

Oh hell, 1 more of my favorites.

I want to be part of the "Big Cleavage Rebellion" too!It seems that this was not the only choice available on the 4th. How about AK Press' Annual Fuck the Fourth Sale ?Movies anyone? Anti-4th of July Guerrilla Screening in the Park- "......what better way to celebrate the impending fall of the American Empire than a good ole' fashioned anti-fourth screening in Dolores Park? At 8:30 there will be a screening of the academy award nominated documentary "The Weather Underground", a patriotic film about revolutionaries who carried out a bombing campaign against the U.S government in the 1970's." That shit is just wrong.

I had a friend put an eyeball on my mess this morning. He's a Brainiac with wiring stuff. in 30 minutes he had my screwup fixed and the new horn dialed in right.

Now I have to finish mounting the horn up and putting everything back together. I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the mounting bracket that I made now. Shouldn't be long and I'll be back together.

This morning, I had most all the fairing bodywork, dash and windshield off so things would be easy to see and work on. With all that off the wind was wonderful.

Made me think that I'm gonna have to make another windshield for this heat.

I made a Summer Windshield last year to help deal with the heat. It's shorter than the stock windshield and does help quite a bit. But riding in this morning, I decided that I should make another one that's even shorter for more air flow.

So I guess I'll be heading into town and getting a piece of Lexan later.

Bad Ass in the Making......... From CBS News: 5-Year-Old Pins Rabid Fox During Cookout"A 5-year-old boy grabbed a rabid fox by the neck and pinned it to the ground during a family cookout, protecting six other children before his stepfather could kill the animal. "I wanted to protect my little brother", said Rayshun McDowell, who battled the fox in the front yard of his home Sunday in Kingstown, a town about 50 miles west of Charlotte.Took a bite while doing the right thing. He'll be getting the Rabies treatment, and I bet he doesn't whine about it either.

Yep, this kids gotta pair. Good on ya!

What I found interesting were the comments to this article. Take a minute and read through them. Quite incredible.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

"Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host a round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship, with all three World Championship classes expected to take part.The announcement of the race, set for Sept. 14, 2008, will be made July 16 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway".

Great news to me. I've never been to a world GP race and will not miss this chance.

I'm curious as to how the course will be set up.

Crap! Like I care. I'm gonna go even if they're racing around in a circle .............. Oh wait a minute. That's what that place is famous for isn't it?

Interesting News of the Last Couple of Days........ There's been a veritable glut of weird and wonderful in the news of late that I've been to busy to comment on. Yes busy. Screwing up my motorcycles electrical system is being busy. But hey, who's bitter?Mary Katherine Ham of Townhall.com - From Helmet to Tiara: Utah's Nat'l Guard Beauty Queen. She's got my vote for Miss America.From Ace who has something funny to say about everything, comes this - "Live Quiet Or Die Hard: Neighbor upset by noisy fireworks opens fire, killing three."

On the Kitchen beat - Chinese villagers eat dinosaur bones. "Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers." Hey, why not?

My Craptacular Garage Skillz Continue to Amaze Me..... After several close calls last year I decided that I needed to upgrade the horn on the Concours. One of the Chuckleheads that Dogboy hangs out with turned me on to THIS LITTLE GEM a few months ago from http://www.twistedthrottle.com/. I bought one and have been sitting on it since and after a close encounter with a Little, Text Messaging, Chancre Blossom last week I decided to install it.

139 Decibels of ear splitting goodness to get the attention of those who need it.No big deal, right? Wrong.

I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge, skill and all around familiarity with motor vehicle electronics is marginal at best and dangerous in some respects. But hey, it came with instructions so I started working it out the other night.

Even though this thing is pretty small, finding a good place to mount it was a challenge. When I figured out that you could separate the compressor from the horn and run an air hose between them, mounting places became much more abundant.

Wiring it up? That's when the trouble started. Which has yet to end as now I've somehow screwed up and I've lost power to the original horns. No don't ask me what the hell I did to achieve that. Nothing I fiddled with should have nuked the power there. And yes, I checked the fuses and for loose connections.

Bah! This wasn't supposed to be any kind of big job, just a simple add on. Let it not be said that couldn't screw up a one car funeral procession.

I'll figure it out soon enough and it'll be something incredibly simple. I'm just bitchin' here now because I'm frustrated.

I should just put on a happy face I guess and sort it out tomorrow after I get my mind in order.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy Independence Day!!!!! I hope you all had a good day today. Please take a minute to reflect exactly why you had the day off today and give thanks to G-d that you are able to enjoy the freedoms you have. Bless you all and God Bless America!!!